The Beatles - Help! (1998, DVD)

The Beatles followed up their debut film, A HARD DAY'S NIGHT, with this fanciful spy spoof. When Ringo adds a new ring to his collection, he's unaware of how important and dangerous this piece of jewelry is. On one hand, a religious cult considers it a sacred object and the wearer must become a sacrifice to their gods. On the other hand, the ring has magical abilities that hold the key to supreme power. Soon the boys from Liverpool are engaged in a slapstick and madcap chase round the world, as a crazed scientist, a pack of crooks, and several religious fanatics set out to capture the band. Watch for the English Channel swimmer who seems to be perpetually lost and appears in nearly every location. Includes Beatles' hits including "Help!," "Ticket To Ride," "You've Got To Hide Your Love Away," and many more.

The 2nd Beatles movie is a delight!

Following the success of their film debut in 1964 with "A Hard Day's Night", The Beatles returned a year later with their second motion picture, entitled "Help!" By the time the film was released to theaters, the group were already a world-wide phenomenon. "Help!" would also eventually go on to become a major box-office hit, subsequently developing a cult following throughout the years. This deluxe boxed set includes the feature film on a DVD disc, plus a second disc containing rare footage of the band on location with director Richard Lester, theatrical trailers, interviews with crew members and cast co-stars Victor Spinetti and Eleanor Bron, and more. This set also includes an authentic reproduction of the original shooting script complete with hand-written notes, 8 colorful theatrical lobby cards, a folded movie poster, and a 60-page photo book containing stills from the movie. John, Paul, George and Ringo certainly had a great time making this movie with director Lester and producer Walter Shenson. The lads carry the film quite naturally from start to finish. Leo McKern is perfect as Clang, leader of the religious cult who attempts to sacrifice Ringo. Victor Spinetti is brilliant as Foot, along with Roy Kinnear as his assistant Algernon, who plan to take the sacrificial ring for themselves. Eleanor Bron was priveliged to be the Beatles' leading lady as Ahme, who always continues to save the boys from the thuggees. The songs on the soundtrack are superb. The film restoration work by Paul Ruttan and his associates is amazing. Altogether, this is a boxed set that belongs in every Beatles' fan's video library, and a perfect example of filmmaking from the mid-60s.

A trip down memory lane

It has been nearly 25 years since seeing the movie Help and i must tell you its as good as i remember it....Seeing the Beatles in color as opposed to a Hard Days Night, which was shot in black and white was an interesting switch and the humor and performances capture the magic of the era...The slapstick comedy and music is for all ages and even though it may seem slightly dated in some parts, it doesnt seem to matter a bit becuase of its overall timelessness....A must see for any Beatles fan-A Hard Days Night is still superior in every way... my 8 year old has seen it a dozen times easily as opposed to Help which he only watched once but did in fact enjoy-For adults A Hard Days Night would probably seem to be the favorite but the Beatles in color, in an interesting plot against the "bad guys" makes for interesting movie making to say the least. If you have a child older than 7 that is interested in the Beatles. check out YEllow Submarine also but stay away from Magical Mystery Tour as its a hallucinogenic, self absorbed drug trip and kids will be looking at you like you had 2 heads.

Excellent Fab Four Film plus an awesome soundtrack, an easy 10 out of 10.

I thoroughly enjoyed this DVD. It's the second Beatle's movie after the first "Hard Day's Night". This was directed by the same director who did that film as well, Richard Lester. The original title of the movie was "8 arms to hold you" but after McCartney & Lennon wrote a catchy little tune by the name of "HELP" it was set in stone that this was to be the movies' title.

The movie seems to be a little less cohesive than the first one but it still works. Filmed in color this movie shines from the 1st frame free of dirt, dust, grime and the restoration was a complete success.

Ringo has a new ring. The leader of a Religious Eastern cult thinks this is the key element in a human sacrifice and they will stop at nothing to obtain it. Meanwhile a mad Scientist and his assistant are after the ring as well believing that....dare I utter this.......that if he has it he can RULE THE WORLD.

All the songs are performed in different locations around the world, from England to the Bahamas and then onto a snowy Austrian mountain side. A great selection of songs performed in the movie include, "Help!", "The Night Before", "I Need You", "Another Girl", "You're Gonna Lose That Girl", "You've Got To Hide Your Love Away", "She's A Woman" and "Ticket To Ride". What a wonderful soundtrack, huh.

Some whimsical moments in the movie are Paul being shrunk to the size of a chewing gum wrapper, George on a snowy mountainside on skis wearing a top hat. John fishing a "season ticket" out of his soup then saying "I always like a lot of seasoning in me soup", LOL and on and on. This movie really does make them look like the English equivalent to the U.S.'s Marx brothers.

All in all this film works and comes with a ton of extras and features on the restoration of the DVD, interviews and behind the scenes with some of the principle players, trailers, hidden Radio adds are among the Easter eggs in this DVD set.

If you're a Beatle fan then this is a 10 out of 10. If you're a movie fan then the DVD is a 10 out of 10. So you can't lose. Pick up a copy and I'm sure you'll be singing along with the songs in no time. This was smack dap in the middle of Beatle mania and you catch a glimpse of it in the movie.

The Fab hold their own among the professional actors and the music is second to none. Excellent DVD.

Good But Not Great

It's been a long time since I have seen the movie HELP!. I remember as a kid liking this movie better than A Hard Day's Night but that is no longer the case. Although I like HELP!, I just think AHDN is a better movie. HELP! actually has a bit of a plot, as opposed to AHDN which just follows the Beatles for a couple of days as they prepare to be guests on a variety show, but HELP! is overly silly at times. The plot focuses on an eastern religious cult which has daily (yes, daily) sacrifices to their god Kaili. These sacrifices require the victim to wear a ring which has somehow been acquired by Ringo. Try as they might, the cult just can't seem to get the ring back as they follow the Fab Four all over the world in various attempts to do so. Ringo is very willing to give the ring back but it won't come off of his finger. Eventually, however, it just falls off at the end of the movie. Some of The Beatles best early music is in this movie and that alone makes it worth owning. Unlike AHDN, the music is synchronised to the footage so that it actually looks like the boys are playing in the recording studio, the apartment in which all four live, and other places. As mentioned earlier, HELP! gets too silly at times, such as the boys housekeeper(?) mowing a lawn-like carpet with wind-up teeth, Paul getting shrunken down to almost microscopic size, and Paul's attempt to be an indian scout. Overall, though, it is a movie worth owning if just for the music which is, well, fabulous. All true Beatle fans should own this movie. It is good, but not great.